UBC (9-0 CW Pac., 1st in RPI) — Rolled both units in one-sided home wins over Brandon (92-46 on Saturday) and Regina (97-70 on Friday); no one played more than 21 minutes vs. the Bobcats.

Kamar Burke, the sophomore who was the only T-Bird to get 30 minutes in either game, used it to put up a neat stat line: eight points, 12 rebounds, nine assists and four steals. The other fun stat: At some point, UBC centre Balraj Bains has probably been referred to on here as a shot-blocking specialist. He played 13 minutes vs. Brandon and never took a shot, but swatted a pair. Next week: Two-game series vs. Fraser Valley.

The Ravens TCB'd on Friday with Tyson Hinz putting up 20 points and eight rebounds in an 87-37 win over Laurentian. Both teams' high man was a freshman, since Isiah Pasquale topped the young Voyageurs with 12. Next week: At Ryerson and No. 8 (for now) U of T.

St. Francis Xavier (5-0 AUS, 6th in RPI) — Two-game series at Memorial, although the Saturday game was postponed. Next week: Host Acadia, visit No. 9 Dalhousie.

Calgary Dinos (9-2 CW Pr., 3rd in RPI) — Got a push from the their Southern Alberta rivals on Saturday, getting past Lethbridge 88-86 in overtime. Considering the contrast in experience at 1-spot, this might not have been a surprise. Calgary's Jarred Ogunbemi-Jackson, for all his game, is a frosh, while the 'Horns have veteran Jeff Price (27 points, five assists vs. just one turnover and five steals on Saturday).

McMaster (5-5 OUA-W, 10th in RPI) — Swept at Lakehead, 80-72 and 76-70, making it four losses in a row. Keenan Jeppesen had a rough statline in the second game (10 points on 3-for-12). The three-spot-drop rule usually observed in the coaches' poll will keep the Marauders in next week's ranking; note that their RPI is strong. At the same time, they're are now fifth in the loaded OUA West.

Next week: Host Brock (Wednesday), No. 7 Windsor (Saturday).

Windsor (8-2 OUA-W, 5th in RPI) — The young point guard Josh Collins dished off for seven assists in the 72-49 home win over Brock on Saturday, where UW held the Badgers to 24 per cent (!) shooting. The Lancers also edged Western on Wednesday.

OUA West writer Sean Furfaro has a post if you want to weigh on that division.

Next week: Host Waterloo (Wed.), at No. 6 McMaster (Sat.).

Toronto (6-4 OUA-E, 9th in RPI) — Split the weekend (105-63 win at RMC, 67-62 loss at Queen's) and fell two games behind Ottawa and three behind Carleton. They're only a half-game ahead of Queen's.

Gaels big man Mitch Leger had a 20-point, 20-rebound night on Saturdya. Queen's, which closed Bartlett Gym on Saturday night, outrebounded the Varsity Blues 50-30. Still, Toronto kept it within five points. U of T is a tough out, even when it's not all firing.

Next week: Host Ottawa and No. 2 Carleton.

Dalhousie (4-3 AUS, 13th in RPI) — Return game at Acadia on Sunday after a 78-59 home win on Friday, with CIS scoring leader Simon Farine putting up 26 points and eight assists. He also had five steals.

Next week: Huge home weekend vs. No. 5 Cape Breton and No. 3 St. FX.

Lakehead (8-1 OUA-W, 4th in RPI) — Swept McMaster at the Thunderdome, 80-72 and 76-70, without having a 20-point man in either game, which is impressive. Also leapfrogged the Lancers in the RPI, moving up to 4th. Cam Hornby, with 13 off the bench in as many minutes, was their leading scorer in the second game.

Your new CIS scoring leader is Showron Glover. The Saskatchewan guard who went off for 43 points — on just 21 shots! — in the Huskies' 102-81 win at Simon Fraser. Glover is now averaging 26.8, ahead of Farine (26.0). Would you believe the same person in the MUBL has both Farine and Glover, the country's leading rebounder, Leger, and top shot blocker, Thompson Rivers' Greg Stewart?

Ryerson power forward Boris Bakovic is one basket from from moving into third on the OUA career list. His 61 points this weekend gave him 1,736 career, one behind Brock great Kevin Stienstra.

Ottawa's trio of fifth-year guards Josh Gibson-Bascombe and Donnie Gibson and combo forward Warren Ward combined for 131 points in the Gee-Gees' home wins over York and Laurentian. Ottawa topped 90 in each contest to go to 8-2, two games clear of Toronto for No. 2 in the OUA East.

That fairly demands an abbreviation: One suggestion is WWJD (Warren Ward, Josh and Donnie).

More stathead brain candy: Simon Fraser, now 8-3 in Can West play (and 8th in RPI through Saturday's games), shot an effective 65% in an 84-80 win over Alberta on Friday. Lost in the shuffle was that Golden Bears freshman Jordan Baker had a season-high 22 points in the loss.

Alberta rebounded more of its own misses (17) than of SFU's (16). Crazy.

6 comments:

"a win likely nudges them ahead of sliding McMaster in next weeks poll"...Uh, you think?About bloody time.Sean Furfaro is right...the national rankings are a joke.McMaster, Toronto, Dalhousie and even Windsor are ranked ahead of Lakehead, yet Lakehead clearly has the superior record.And you can't use RPI as an excuse.Only Windsor has a better RPI.I know Lakehead is the NKOTB as far as the coaches are concerned but come on.It's perfectly obvious some teams are getting love for past reputations.Emphasis on the word past.Here in the present, Lakehead is the OUA's #2 team and 3rd or 4th in the country at worst.

Good point — it would have been smarter to say Lakehead likely will not move up to No. 5 ahead of Cape Breton!

There does so be an 'in crowd' with the coaches' poll ... but there is something to be said for teams which have done it for a number of years.

Lakehead as No. 2 in the OUA might be a stretch; they had that 37-point loss to Ottawa.

True, the Wolves beat Carleton, but it was at home, which is a factor. In terms of common league opponents, Carleton has won at Mac (by nine), cleaned out Laurentian (50) and York (46). Lakehead's beaten Mac twice at home (8 & 6) and beat Laurentian (by 9) and York (by 13) by considerably smaller margins, except it was on those teams' floors.

Ottawa has a solid case for being in top ten. A clear lead over #8 Toronto in the OUA East standings. Beat #9 Dal by 19 points on Dals home floor during the holidays. And of course beat #10 Lakehead by 37 on Lakehead's turf at the start of the season.

Would you believe the same person in the MUBL has both Farine and Glover, the country's leading rebounder, Leger, and top shot blocker, Thompson Rivers' Greg Stewart?

Such thinly-veiled trash talk is unacceptable in a gentlemanly league like ours. I am disappointed in you, or maybe I'm disappointed because Layson was busy broadcasting both Guelph-Waterloo games yesterday and I didn't get to mock him for being in last place.

True, Lakehead crapped the bed against Ottawa, but there is a plausible excuse.The game was played 24 hours after the T-wolves season defining triumph over Carleton, Lakehead might have been emotionally spent and mentally drained, explaining the listless effort against the Gee Gees.Had that game been played Friday, the result, or at least the margin of victory, probably would have been different.Lakehead, like recent Windsor Lancer teams, seem to be world beaters at home but are a question mark on the road.They have been fortunate so far to have played the league's toughest teams at home.Carleton, Ottawa and Toronto and most lately McMaster.Of their four road opponents, only Queen's could be labeled as a contender and they only just beat them by a point in Kingston.The other road games were against RMC, York and Laurentian...the soft underbelly of the OUA.The real test for Lakehead is when they face the Lancers at the St. Denis Center.Windsor is a notoriously difficult place to earn a win, let alone two.How the T-wolves fare in those games will go a long way to determine first place in the OUA West...and how the rest of the basketball community perceives them.